BANGKOK — Several dozen students and lecturers staged protests on Thursday denouncing Thammasat University's recent decision to fire history professor Somsak Jeamteerasakul, a prominent critic of the Thai monarchy who is currently living in exile.

According to an order released by the university this week, Somsak, 56, was fired for failing to show up for work for more than 15 days. The dismissal effectively disqualified Somsak from receiving a pension and other benefits, despite the fact he has taught at the university for over 20 years.

Students and professors denounce Thammasat University's decision to fire history professor Somsak Jeamteerasakul, 25 Feb 2015.

Today's protests were organized by a group calling itself "Thammasat Community" at Thammasat's Tha Prachan and Rangsit campuses.

The demonstrators at Tha Prachan campus read a statement to the press expressing disappointment over the university’s decision to fire Somsak rather than accept his letter of resignation, which he said he submitted to the university in December 2014. 

"It is disappointing that the administrators of Thammasat University have abandoned their chance to show moral courage in defense of liberty and academic independence," the statement read. "Instead, they display fear toward the dictatorial power that has interfered in the university, to the point of refusing to protect their own personnel."

In a symbolic gesture of solidarity with Somsak, one of the demonstrators put white powder in his hair in reference to the historian’s nickname as "the white-haired professor." 

Several plain-clothed police officers monitored the event, Prachatai English reported, but no arrests were made. Public protests and political activities are currently banned by the junta, which declared martial law and seized power in a coup in May 2014.

A historian by trade, Somsak is a rare outspoken critic of the monarchy in Thailand, where insulting the Royal Family is punishable by up to 15 years under the country’s lese majeste law. 

Somsak, who was charged with lese majeste in 2011, is believed to have fled Thailand shortly after the May 2014 coup.

The junta, known officially as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), summoned Somsak and hundreds of other academics, activists, and politicians for "attitude adjustment" after the military takeover. When Somsak did not comply, authorities issued an arrest warrant for him and eventually revoked his passport.

After six months of silence, Somsak posted on his Facebook that he was living in exile in Europe. Although he has never specified which country he is living in, many people have confirmed that he is residing in France. Over the past few months, Somsak has published dozens of historical documents and criticism of the monarchy on social media. 

The rector of Thammasat University, Somkid Lertpaitoon, told TNN news agency yesterday that the order to expel Somsak was in accordance with university regulations, which prohibit employees from missing work for more than 15 days "without due cause." He added that the university summoned Somsak to testify before a university committee in person, but that the historian did not comply, leaving the university administrators no choice but to fire him. 

"The punishment of Mr. Somsak is not related to his expression of political opinions, because we regard it as academic freedom," Somkid was quoted as saying. "And it's not related to lese majeste, either. Mr. Somsak is being prosecuted under the criminal codes, which is the duty of police officers to proceed under the laws." 

However, Somsak posted on his Facebook that university regulations allow for a wide range of punishments for employees who miss work, ranging from temporary suspensions to requested resignations.

"I suspect that the rector has been so busy working for the NCPO that he forgot the regulations of his own workplace," Somsak wrote, referring to Somkid's membership in the interim legislature appointed by the ruling junta. 

BANGKOK – The Thai junta’s rubber-stamp parliament has unanimously approved the first draft of a bill that would restrict political demonstrations in Thailand.

The bill, named the Public Rallies Act, was approved today in a 182-0 vote by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), whose members were hand-picked by the ruling junta. 

The bill will now go to a 22-member subcommittee before it returns to the assembly for a second vote one month from now.

According to a draft of the bill, public rallies will required to be peaceful and respect the "boundary of rights and liberties ascribed by the Constitution." 

If approved and enforced, the act will also place the following restrictions on protests:

• The area within a 150-meter radius of any royal palace and residences of guests who are formally invited by the Royal Thai Family will be declared off-limits to any protest.
• No protest can take place in the premises of the Government House, Parliament, and courts, except with approval from relevant state agencies. 
• The Commander of the Royal Thai Police has the power to declare the area within 50-meter radius of the Government House, Parliament, and courts off-limits to any protest. 
• Organizers of potential rallies are required to alert authorities at least 24 hours before the demonstrations take place. They are required to state the purpose, date, time, and place of the rallies. 
• Security officers can obtain orders from courts to disperse rallies in which "demonstrators commit any act of violence that may cause danger to the lives and property of others, and lead to chaos in the country." 
• In the event of an order to declare any area off-limit to protests, violators face a maximum jail term of 10 years. 

Speaking to the assembly before the vote this morning, NLA member and Thammasat University rector Somkid Lertpaitoon said he supported the bill, but had some reservations.

"It's good that the government is trying to pass this bill, after the troubles about political rallies in the past 10 years," he said. "[But] this law does give a large opening to the judgment of security officers. Therefore, security officers have to uphold the principle of peaceful and unarmed assembly, because it is the right of the people."

He also pointed to a Constitutional Court verdict in 2006 that ruled against requiring citizens to ask permission to protest in public . The court ruled that such a law would violate the constitutional provision on freedom of assembly.

"I am not sure how much the verdict of the Constitutional Court will affect this law," Somkid said.

Anti-government protesters rally in Bangkok in November 2013.

Deputry Prime Minister Visanu Krue-ngam assured the NLA that details of the law can be amended by the sub-committee. He also assured the lawmakers that security officers will be trained in crowd control and required to enforce the law fairly. 

"This law isn't a perfect tool," Visanu said. "Some people were asking, will there be still be rallies under this law? Let me answer that rallies will still take place. But the rallies will be more orderly." 

The NLA then unanimously voted to pass the bill. 

For much of the last decade, Thailand has been rocked by mass protests organized by rival political factions known as the Redshirts, mostly composed of rural poor who support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the Yellowshirts, a loose coalition of royalists and traditional elites who revile Thaksin his political camp.

The protests have occasionally turned deadly during clashes between the two groups and encounters with security forces. The bloodiest episode occurred in 2010, when more than 90 people were killed during a military crackdown on Redshirt protests from March to May of that year. 

More recently, nearly 30 people lost their lives during the six months of anti-government protests staged by Yellowshirts that culminated in a military coup on 22 May 2014. 

Public protests are currently outlawed under martial law by the ruling military junta, though in practice the ban is only strictly applied to anti-coup and pro-democracy activities.